Photo: Random House

'Julia's Kitchen Wisdom - Essential Techniques and Recipes From a Lifetime of Cooking'
by Julia Child
Knopf -- 2009 (original pub. date 2000)
Buy it on Amazon

In the thick of the media blitz surrounding the release of the Julia Child/Julie Powell biographic mash-up movie, it would be easy to mistake this volume -- ours came bestickered with "Now a Major Motion Picture" -- for a quickie cash-in. It's anything but.

Rather, this is a previously published compendium of Julia Child's kitchen notes from her years of writing cookbooks and filming "The French Chef" and we're warning you now -- your copy will get messy. Julia wouldn't mind.

Takeaway tips: In Child's words, "It doesn't pretend to take the place of a big, detailed, all-purpose cookbook like 'Way to Cook' or 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes I and II'. It is, rather, a mini aide-mémoire for general home cookery, and is aimed at those who are tolerably familiar with culinary language; whose kitchens are normally well equipped with such staples as jelly-roll pans, a food processor, a decent rolling pins; and who know their way around the stove reasonably well."

"Kitchen Wisdom" is packed with time and temperature charts, foolproof, building block recipes for mother sauces, breads, desserts and soups, as well as her rigorously tested methods for everything from soaking beans and boiling eggs to the ins and outs of flour dredging and sourcing omelet pans. If it's got a soupçon of French technique, it's in the book.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Quality of pictures: There are some charming archival photographs of Julia on the set of "The French Chef" but nothing illustrative of techniques or end results. The latter perhaps lowers the intimidation factor, but the former might have kept us from nearly snapping a tendon trying to follow Julia's omelet unmolding instructions.

We tested: Eggs Baked in Ramekins, Mayonnaise and Poached Eggs

It's Julia Child; it's going to work. Her level of rigor in recipe testing is legendary and the mayo and ramekin eggs worked perfectly on the initial try. The poaching took several attempts, but the fault was certainly not in the recipe, but rather our unpracticed hands. We got there eventually and now we've got a practical, show-off skill for life.

Worth the investment: Mais oui. "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is an essential in any serious home kitchen, but many of the recipes require a dedication of time, cash and practice that perhaps relegate their use to weekend or company cooking. They're also all French. "Kitchen Wisdom" is for everyday, cross-cultural cooking and is imbued with the inspirational, un-snobby spirit of Julia Child, herself. Toujours bon appétit, indeed.